A blog about some of my observations of travel. Unusual places, curious people and the industry itself.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Visiting St. Helena - An Astonishing Island

Travelling for eight days for a four-day business trip, and
then spending eight days wending my way home does seem peculiar in this day and
age; as I write this, ensconced in a comfortable seat on a Lufthansa flight
from Munich to Montreal connected to the world by wi-fi, I marvel that I
started my journey home on Friday last week, and it is once again Friday. It is
the sort of journey that one thought was consigned to the mists of time, but
here it is. And travel in this manner is simply wonderful.

Dinner on board - a tough life; and cabin A 26

It’s funny really; stepping back into some mythical time in
the past doesn't feel that odd when one does it. St. Helena has been described
as living in the 1950s, and to a point that is true, it also lives in the 1850s
and when the mood strikes, the island lives firmly in the 21st
century. Much the same can be said, of course, about many remote villages throughout
the world, but the really odd thing about St. Helena is the absence of an
airport.

It is an absence that is changing as the engineers and
constructors from the able South African firm Basil Read construct an airstrip
on the island. It is, one of their engineers marvelled, a project unlike any
other. They had to start by building a wharf to bring their equipment in, they
needed to build a road, import absolutely everything, scrape the top of a hill
and use the aggregate to fill in a massive ravine, and then put down an
airport. It will be open in 2016, and assuming that an airline actually wants
to start scheduled service, and this is by no means a certainty, tourists will
start to flood in; that, at least, is the concept.

To attract visitors, the island needs to get tour operators
on side, as the world of travel is a highly competitive one, and this was the
underlying reason for my presence on the island together with Erik Brown of
Halcyon Travel and my old friend Clive Stacey from the London-based travel
company, Discover the World. We travelled with Janet Shankland, the St. Helena
tourist representative in the UK, and visited every nook and cranny, many
guesthouses and hotels, and were left with the main question of why this jewel
has been left undisturbed by tourists for so long.

The Famous Four - Erik, Janet, Max and Clive

No good comes from dwelling on the past, but suffice it to
say that we all are enthusiastic about the possibilities of travel to the
island, and in particular before the airport arrives. The boat trip, which can
be truncated on occasion by flying to Ascension Island and shaving a couple of
days sailing time from the Cape Town run, is utterly marvellous, and a perfect
introduction to this quirky destination.

St. Helena is the ideal destination for generalists; it has history,
architecture, Wyre Birds, hiking programs, flora to astonish, SCUBA diving or
snorkelling, deep sea fishing and a plentiful supply of souvenirs and South
African wine. It offers accommodation to satisfy every taste from delightful
guesthouses, such as the Town House where we stayed, to accommodation in
perfectly restored 18th century properties. Food is a bit of an
issue, but there are restaurants, if one books, and predictably a Chinese that
is open regularly. As more tourists arrive, however, this will most certainly
change. Self-catering accommodation is also possible, an option that includes
the delights of joining the locals for shopping on Vegetable Thursdays.

Passing the time is not an issue at all; the main centre,
Jamestown, is a delightful Georgian village, stretched out along a two-mile
valley. The harbour dominates one end, of course, along with the major public
buildings, The Castle where Important Work is done, the court and library, the
police office and HM’s Prison.

The Court House - appropriately defended

It is also the starting point for those who want to climb
the 699 steps of Jacob’s Ladder.

Jacobs Ladder on its side (no idea how to turn images around)

This feature of the islands is interesting; built to allow
soldiers garrisoned at the top of the hill, guarding the harbour, access to the
fleshpots of Jamestown, the stairs (a solid 11’ each one) are a challenge to
many. Clive among them, of course, who whizzed up them upon arrival and
complained about his leg muscles for the next few days; I, realising that the
nearest hospital was in Cape Town, refrained from showing off, and will try and
learn Photoshop instead.

Continuing up Main Street, one is struck by the marvellous
patina that the buildings exhibited; Georgian, lovely, solid and aged, they
live in the continuum of life that stretches back to the days when 1300 ships
each year called by for provisions. Jamestown has worn well, and its pubs (both
a touch seedy, and I mean that in the most respectful way), and both entertaining
function well, there are restaurants, grocery stores and all of the shops that
a real High Street should have but few do. There are no chains, no clutch of
estate agencies and no pretension; it is a lovely place.

The Market - 1860

The island does support, or at least maintain, a remarkable
number of churches. Fortuitously connected to the incumbent Bishop, a cleric
who curiously had known and rather liked my deeply un-clerical father and
uncles for some thirty years, we were invited to dinner. Richard Fenwick, and
his delightful wife Jane, are exactly what one would imagine of the Bishop of
St. Helena and Ascension; a remote and really only geographically connected
part of the Synod of South Africa, the parish counts over fourteen churches on
the island, a couple more in Ascension and cares for the welfare of a people
facing extreme change, and looks to the church for a degree of stability.

The Bishop - Richard Fenwick in fine form, and Janet, Richard and I after dinner

Dinner was wonderful; their house a lovely 18th
century property, properly decorated with pictures, books and music, and
redolent with conversation. Richard himself is a fine organist, and played for
us as we enjoyed his cathedral; Jane is a very talented harpist, and an
enduring memory of the trip will be sitting with Richard after dinner
discussing the ways of the world, my ancestors’ drinking habits, London in the
1970s, and listening to Jane giving Clive his first harp lesson in the living
room. Simply delightful, and a quintessential reflection of island life

But Jamestown is simply one small part of the island of St. Helena, and we left in the morning to explore more of this remote and unknown land.